PR-72
A Favorite Face of God
“If a friend comes to meet him, to the Sufi
it is God who is coming to meet him. If a
beggar is asking for a penny, it is God
whom the Sufi recognizes in that form.”
–Hazrat Inayat Khan
If you don’t know where to start
(What to give someone
Who has everything)
Just do sweet things for God
Whose heart’s conveniently at hand:
Just pick as you would a flower
A favorite face of God
Just do sweet things for a friend
PR-227 (Published in the Berkeley Poetry Review)
Master the Perverse Impulse
“To make a friend, forgiveness is required which burns up all things, leaving only beauty; but to destroy friendship is easy.” –Hazrat Inayat KhanI don’t know . . .
I think it’s similarly easy
To throw oneself off a cliff
It’s true and that’s probably why
I have always been supremely scared
To be on a ledge I think
I would visit the Grand Canyon
On my belly with only my head
Projecting over the rim
I figure by the time
I got up to jump I could
Master the perverse impulse
So friend you’re pretty safe with me
I will take a lot
Lying down
New PR-307
Try to Remember: You Are Drowning
People talk about who’s worthy of their love
They weigh stuff in a war and wonder
As they wander behind enemy lines
About their friends
How far do they love them:
You must mistrust such punctures
Because any excuse for love is a life buoy
Try to remember:
You are drowning
PR3–145
A Little Remarked Quality of Camaraderie
I was remembering Frost
(From on the windows maybe?)
But instead mine came out dropping
By friends on a snowy evening:
It was more festive
Than his horse’s bell shake and
Still
(In an excited way)
More peaceful too
(A little remarked quality of camaraderie)
